An Alvin resident, aged 63, has been sentenced to two decades plus five years in prison for crimes involving child sexual assault material, according to a recent announcement by the U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei. Robert Earl Cochran Jr., after admitting his guilt on December 17, 2024, will not only serve time but will also be under a decade of supervised release upon completion of his prison term, facing stringent restrictions to safeguard against further exploitation of children, as per the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Cochran's sentence comes as a culmination of determined efforts by investigators to put an end to his criminal activities that involved distribution and possession of reprehensible material. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown sentenced Cochran, setting out several conditions designed to severely limit his ability to further harm society. Special Agent in Charge Chad Plantz, of ICE-HSI Houston, highlighted the gravity of Cochran's actions, telling the community, "With today's sentence we have removed an extremely dangerous child predator from the community who was an immediate threat to every child he encountered." Despite a prior prison stint for assaulting a young child, Cochran shamelessly returned to commit similar offenses, showing a blatant disregard for the harm inflicted on his victims, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Cochran's criminal behavior spanned several years, indulging in child sexual abuse material of children between the ages of three and twelve. Upon his arrest, investigators found nine images and 54 obscene representations of children on his three cellphones, confirming his admission of having viewed and heavily traded child pornography between 2015 and 2016. His previous conviction and the sentence for aggravated sexual assault of a three-year-old child required him to register as a sex offender, as stated by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The case against Cochran was a part of Project Safe Childhood, a DOJ initiative launched in 2006 to combat the escalating problem of child sexual exploitation. Lead by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC aims to properly apprehend and prosecute individuals who prey on children and to facilitate the rescue of the exploited. Assistant U.S. Attorney Luis Batarse, who is prosecuting the case, said, "After spending time in prison for sexually assaulting a child, he brazenly admits to getting out and actively seeking, possessing and distributing child sexual abuse materials with absolutely no remorse for the physical, psychological and emotional trauma inflicted on the innocent children who were victimized to produce them," as per the U.S. Attorney's Office. Currently, Cochran remains in custody, awaiting transfer to a Bureau of Prisons facility.
